First interview down. Thank god I got beta blockers beforehand or else I would have had trouble keeping my voice from shaking!
The interview indirectly/ informally started on Tuesday night over appetizers and beers with 2 current residents and 3 other interviewees. It was a nice way to ask questions and relax. One of the residents was Wojtek, obviously polish. Another interviewee was Marcin, a polish guy from Detroit. He knew my old college roomate. Very small world!
The next day started at 10am with an orientation of the hospital and then a tour. There were 7 of us there. Right off the bat, I got a great vibe from the place. Everyone was friendly and i could feel the family vibe. After seeing the ED, we went to the medical education offices and sat in a large room eating our lunches. Around 1pm we were left alone in the large room and were called out 1 by 1. It was very nerve wrecking. I was fine until that point, that was when I took the beta blocker to kill the adrenaline. Boy did it work.
My first interview was with the chief residents, very informal just trying to get to know me. At one point, the resident quoted a wonderul line from a letter of rec that was in my file. She said I'd like to hear what you have to say about this line "it is refreshing to meet someone who is so well liked by everyone she worked with while working so diligently" or something along those lines... I got really emotional hearing that and had to pause to catch my breathe, I almost cried. Seriously, I said it out loud that I just had a wave of emotions and I really nearly cried from hearing such a nice comment. Finally hearing some feedback about how I was doing and reassuring me that I was noticed workin my butt off was very emotionally overwhelming. We dont get a lot of direct feedback so when it does come, its very much appreciated.
The next two interviews were much more stressful! First was 3 faculty members who pretended to be almost bored. Im sure it was an interview tactic because one was the guy who gave the orientation and tour and he was acting very differently. I tried my best to keep them all engaged. My interview strategy is to make people smile and laugh, and I know I did that quite a bit during the interview. So hopefully they remember me!
The next interview [the last of 3] had 3 faculty members interviewing me, including the program director. I felt relaxed during it and answered questions openly and honestly. One question I got was "What is one case or scenerio where you would feel very uncomfortable. As in, you walk in the room and want to run right away asking for help?"
"Scabies," i answered "or any other bed bug type presentation. I can deal with blood shooting everyone but bugs I cant see make me cringe." This made them all bust up laughing and the doctor that asked the question said "great answer, havent heard that one before!"
In all 3 interviews I was myself. I was able to express myself calmly and smiled through all of it. I made them laugh several times and am positive they were able to get a good sense of my personality.
I drove to the interview which gave me a good chance to see the area. There are great homes and long island has a lot of money. Great to live there I'm sure...but not on a residents budget.
I left the day thinking I could see myself living and working there. The hospital was small but big enough to get a great education. We'll see how it compares to the other places I will visit!
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